


Until We're Parted

by JTHM_Michi



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Asexual Character, Epic Friendship, Eren this is why Levi calls you a brat, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-01
Updated: 2015-10-01
Packaged: 2018-04-24 08:01:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,677
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4911691
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JTHM_Michi/pseuds/JTHM_Michi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Eren is 9 years old when he married his best friends. They all grew up and learned what marriage actually means but they all figured they'd never have to "get divorced". So far, they haven't.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Until We're Parted

The first time he meets Mikasa, he screams at her.

He demands she fight, demands she live. He screams at her because he is afraid that she won’t listen to him, will lay there passively until the slight glow around her fades.

She listens to him, saves him as he saved her, and she is strikingly frail and small. After, when the knife has fallen from her hands and she is covered in blood, he takes her hand and leads her out. She does not speak, does not cry, but her fingers grip his own.

He doesn’t know where they are, just knew enough to follow their tracks to find the missing girl, so he leads the little girl a little ways away from the cottage to clean up her hands and face.

Before Grisha comes with the Military Police, Eren wipes Mikasa’s hands clean and rubs the blood stains on her chin and left cheek off. Her hair was a tangled mess, so he combed his fingers through it to make her look more presentable. When the adults come, she hasn’t said a word or moved more than two steps away from him. He’s cleaned her hands and gotten her shoes back for her, has cleaned her face and hair, and left himself a mess. He knows the adults think he killed those men, think that Mikasa was nothing but a helpless little girl, and he is angry with them for reasons he doesn’t understand. He sees their skepticism when he explains that she saved him from the last kidnapper, sees their disbelief, and feels a hot rage crawl up the back of his throat.

When it is just Grisha and them, she speaks for the first time. She cries and starts to shake and Eren wants to hold her. Instead, he wraps his scarf around her, telling her that she’s coming home with them.

The first time he meets Mikasa, he screams at her and they save each other.

* * *

 

He doesn’t remember the first time he met Armin. He knows they’ve always been together, that their mothers knew one another from before they were born. His mother used to tell them stories about how they were as babies and he knows that he was born a few months before Armin. His mother used to say that Armin had a habit of pulling Eren’s hair and that Eren would retaliate by gumming at the other boy’s fingers, but he has no memories of those events.

The first memory he has of his best friend is when they were maybe four or five. They were at Armin’s house, his parent’s watching them as Eren’s parents were out, and he remembers the soft blankets under his hands. Armin was reaching for something out of reach and Eren saw it topple dangerously. He thinks he must have fallen recently, or perhaps been in the kitchen when his mother dropped something, because he knew that the thing toppling in place was sharp and dangerous. He pulled Armin away just as it fell and shattered on the ground, sending little shards everywhere. Armin cried and Eren wanted to make him stop but didn’t know how. So he just stood there with Armin in his arms, trying to keep the other boy as still as possible because sharp things were bad.

Armin’s father came in to investigate the noise, of course, and once they were picked up out of the mess Eren burst into tears because Armin was crying and Eren couldn’t make him stop. Armin stopped crying and gave him a hug, which made Eren feel better and of course Armin knew how to do that.

He figures that situation is a good way to sum them up - Eren tries to keep Armin safe but ultimately has to rely on other people to do that for him and Armin always knows how to make Eren feel better.

* * *

 

Eren introduces Mikasa to Armin on a cold morning, before they all go off to the school yard. Mikasa holds his hand and stares at Armin unblinkingly for a long time. Armin smiles at her and starts to talk about their classes, their teachers, what they’re studying, the kids in their school, even the different kind of books they all use. Mikasa doesn’t say anything, but she allows Eren to pull her along as they all go to school.

She hasn’t said a lot since coming home with Eren, she’s not big on words. She’ll talk when prompted to, of course, or when she really wants something but otherwise she is like Eren’s second shadow.

Armin is smart and their teachers know it. Some of them resent him for it, single him out with harder and harder questions until Armin’s voice shakes as he answers and eventually the teachers tell him to stop showing off. Eren has long since stopped trying to stand up for his friend, after years of arguing with adults and having his parents called in to discuss his attitude problems. (After years of Armin telling him it’s okay, that Armin doesn’t need him to stand up for him he has two perfectly good legs himself thank you very much!)

As they’re all leaving the room to go home, Mikasa doesn’t take Eren’s hand. She walks up to Armin and takes his sleeve in her grip, pulling him with her as they leave the building.

“Tell me more about what that man was asking you about.” She says to him and Armin beams at her, starting to talk expressively. He doesn’t pull away from her and she doesn’t let go of his sleeve.

Mikasa’s not good with words, but Armin is smart enough to hear her anyway.

* * *

 

Eren is nine when he gets married to Mikasa and Armin.

Armin was getting bullied, again, and Eren had come to defend him, again. He was getting his ass handed to him, in all honesty, when Mikasa came running around the corner. It was after she dispatched the older boys that people knew to run when she came into the picture.

Armin sniffed and wiped at his face and shrugged off Eren’s helping hand. Mikasa stood nearby, looking over Armin’s bruised face with a murderous expression.

“I can take care of myself!” Armin shouted at Eren, tears running down his face and Eren bit his lip. He could never handle it when Armin cried, he never seemed to know what to say or do to make him stop and feel better.

“That doesn’t mean you have to.” Mikasa said quietly. “People who care about you are allowed to want to help you.” She continued, staring at Armin. Armin muttered something, wiping his face, and Eren wanted to hold his hand but lately Armin had been pulling away from physical touch.

“I’m not your wife, Eren.” Armin said finally, looking at Eren with determination in his eyes and a clenched jaw. Eren blinked. Armin’s ears got red. “That’s what people are all saying! That I’m just your weak little wife, but I can defend myself! I’m not your wife!” He continued, yelling and waving his arms around.

“Wives aren’t weak.” Mikasa cut in, voice firm. Armin blinked, anger leaving him in a rush.

“No, you’re right, they aren’t. Sorry, Eren, I didn’t mean to take that out on you.” Armin apologized but Eren was still caught up on the last thing, the wife thing.

“Why can’t you be my wife?” He asked, curious. Did a wife have to be a girl?

“I - I’m a boy?” Armin stuttered out.

“Okay, then be my husband.” Eren demanded, warming up to this idea. “My mom says that husbands and wives depend on each other, love each other, and help each other. So, you can be my husband.” Eren continued, grabbing both of Armin’s hands in his own, expression shining.

"What about me?” Mikasa asked. Armin untangled one of his hands to reach for hers, so all three of them were connected.

“You can be our wife. After all, you’re the girl.” Armin said. Eren nodded seriously.

And that was that. Mikasa said they’d all need rings, but none of them had any. Armin pointed out that since they were a special marriage - one with three people instead of two - that maybe they should have something special to connect them - not just rings. Eren is the one who came up with what that something should be.

Mikasa’s scarf was from Eren already and it was red, so Eren made Armin a bracelet with red string and yarn. Armin made him a thicker bracelet from an older red shirt, crisscrossed so it looked nice and expensive. As he got older though, it only fit around his ankle so he wore it like that instead.

And then came training.

* * *

 

It really was just a slip of the tongue, the first time it happened. Armin had been sick, tired, and sore while Mikasa had been hovering over him with her worried eyes and stern mouth.

“Armin, I’ll take your chores tonight. Go to bed right now.” Mikasa said finally, voice stern. Armin groaned, resting his head on the table with his dinner in front of him. Mikasa pressed a hand to the back of his neck, which was a welcome cool against his skin.

“I can’t move, it’s too much work.” Armin whined. Mikasa settled her hands on his shoulders, kneading them strongly and working out some of his tension. “Where’s Eren?” He muttered into the table.

“He’s with Ymir and the others, they should be back soon. Be a good husband and listen to your wife; go to your room and sleep.” Mikasa said. Armin didn’t even notice the significance of what she said to him, or where they were. She helped him to his feet and pushed him towards the door. He didn’t think anything of the sudden silence in the mess hall or the stares of his fellow trainees - he just went to his room to sleep.

The next time was also an accident.

Armin and Eren were assigned to 3DMG training together while Mikasa was in hand to hand combat training on the other end of the field. Eren was getting the hang of the move they were practicing when something in Armin’s gear went _sqeezzet_ and Armin felt the sensation of free-fall for a few horrifying moments before Eren’s arms wrapped around his waist. He managed to slow their momentum enough that when they smacked into a nearby tree - with Eren twisting them so he hit the tree instead of Armin, the noble idiot - it didn’t break any of their bones. Eren released himself so they didn’t get tangled and they dropped a good few feet to the ground. Eren rolled off him as soon as they hit the ground, groaning. Armin coughed a few times to get air back into his lungs as the others rushed to them.

“What the hell were you thinking, Eren? You could have gotten really hurt!” Armin berated him as they both lay there. Eren laughed, turning his head to smile at him.

“Aren’t husbands supposed to protect their wives?” Eren said cheekily.

“I’m not your wife, I’m your husband!” Armin protested automatically, used to this particular method of teasing. Eren laughed, his laughter bright and bubbling out of him like always. Armin smiled at the sky, breathing easy knowing Eren was not badly hurt and neither was he.

* * *

 

Eren was the last one to notice that they had become something of a scandal within the 104th. He’d heard a few off color jokes of course, mostly things about Armin being easy, which almost always make him punch someone in the mouth, but nothing about people thinking the three of them were serious about being married or were all in some threesome with each other.

He finds out because of Franz, oddly enough. Franz, Jean, Nac, Tom, and Samuel were all assigned to a group to learn hunting and Eren was assigned to a group to learn how to get water from lands that are seemingly out of it. Eren proved that he already knew the skills needed for that particular lesson so he was shuffled out of that group and into the hunting group.

And it was then, when everyone was busy cooking the animal they’d taken down, that Franz asked Eren what it was like being married so young. Eren blinked at him in confusion for a few seconds before his jaw dropped open.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to offend you or anything! I’m sorry if you were trying to keep it a secret, but it’s pretty well know amongst us all?” Franz ended with a sheepish look and a questioning tone. Eren continued to stare at him in bemusement. Franz’s face and ears took on a red shade that usually only appeared whenever Hannah was around.

“What do you mean?” Eren finally found his words.

“I just mean - you know - you, Mikasa, and Armin. I’m sure you and Mikasa are the only ones allowed to be legally married, so I was wondering if that...I don’t know, does that cause problems between you and Armin? Or Armin and Mikasa?” Franz asked, seemingly really interested.

Eren burst out laughing. Franz panicked and told him to ignore his noisiness and tried to walk away. Eren was going to let it go, but this was too good an opportunity. He pulled Franz back down, calming down and breathing deep to keep his composure.

“It doesn’t bother us at all who is really married to each other or not.” Eren said honestly, since none of them were actually married to each other. Franz nodded, looking thoughtful, and Eren rubbed a hand over his back wondering if this was about Hannah or someone else. Hell, maybe it was just Franz trying to make friends.

“Mikasa, Armin, and I are the most important people to each other. They’re my best friends and I can’t imagine what my life would be like if they weren’t in it with me. Part of the reason I’m going to join the survey corps and annihilate all the titans is to make sure that those creatures never hurt them again, never destroy their homes, or kill them. I want to protect them with everything inside me.” Eren said quietly and honestly. He could still hear Armin’s gasping sobs when they all found each other on the other side of Wall Rose, could still feel Mikasa’s shaking against his back that first night as they all huddled together to sleep as refugees. In his nightmares, he sees his mother being lifted up by a titan, but instead of her being eaten his mother turns into Mikasa who screams at him that he let Armin die.

Franz pulls him into a one armed hug, squeezing quickly, before letting him go. Eren wishes Armin was here because he suddenly wants someone to hold his hand or possibly just him. Mikasa would sit next to him and link their pinkies together but Armin was a touch-based person, he gave hugs and pets and snuggles like no one’s business. Eren himself was somewhere in between them, which seemed to balance them all out.

Eren wondered if he should be honest with Franz and tell him they weren’t like that, but what would he say? They married each other when they were nine and continue to joke about it because they’re all not looking for someone to devote themselves to because in their own way they’re all terrified of the idea of loving someone that much? Mikasa is terrified that she’ll have to choose between someone she loves and her best friends, she’s terrified that the person she loves will die protecting her like her parents, like Eren’s mother, and that she’ll have to watch it helpless. Armin is terrified that he’ll love someone and they won’t love him back, that he’ll devote himself to someone who will use him and leave him in the end. He’s terrified that he’ll find someone and they’ll want to do more than just hold hands and cuddle and kiss - things that Armin doesn’t want and won’t ever want. He’s terrified of rejection. And Eren, like always, is a mixture of them both.

He’s terrified of seeing the one he loves being murdered or eaten in front of him with him being unable to do nothing; he’s terrified of rejection and abandonment. He’s scared the person he loves will grow to resent him because of the love and affection he has for Armin and Mikasa. They’re not looking for relationships because they have enough fear in their lives as it is and they can’t handle more right now.

So they keep the marriage alive because love, no matter its form, is important. It’s the only way humanity is going to be able to win this war.

So he doesn’t correct Franz.

* * *

 

Armin is angry. Really, really angry.

Mikasa is holding Sasha back, murder on her face, and Eren is beside Armin trying to defuse the situation. He has his hands out and is talking to the soldier, a member of the military police, and he’s trying his best to talk him out of the grip he has on his firearm. He hasn’t let himself process the situation he’s in, because if he does he’s sure he’ll end up getting Armin shot since the other boy is next to him. Why, oh why, didn’t Eren think to move in front of him??

The man swings the rifle around and the butt catches Eren in the temple hard enough to send him crashing to the ground. Mikasa makes a furious sound and Sasha growls, sounding like she’d like nothing more than to hunt down and eat the MP in front of them.

“Eren!” Mikasa says and Armin’s arm flies out, fist clenched, and punches the MP right in the jaw. The guy’s head jerks around, blood gushing out of his lip from his tooth ripping into it and then Sasha is on the man, wrestling the gun away from him, while Mikasa goes to help Eren to his feet.

As he rises, he feels warm liquid flow down his head and knows he’s cut his temple a bit. The butt of the rifle was probably edged with something sharp. Mikasa holds up her scarf to the cut, pressing against it, worried face close to his own as she looks into his eyes to check for a concussion.

“I’m alright; it’s just a cut.” Eren says and Mikasa touches his face softly, the tips of her fingers cold with fear. She did this after they’d killed those men, after he had washed off the blood from her, just touched his face softly. Her hands are bigger now, but they’re no less cold.

“Armin, get off! He’s unconscious, you’ll kill him!” Sasha yells from next to them and Eren turns his head sharply to see the other girl yanking Armin back from the MP’s body. His face has been beaten badly, nose broken and blood covering it, and Armin’s leg lashes out in one last kick between the man’s legs. Eren would wince if he wasn’t worried about Armin.

“Armin.” Mikasa says firmly. Armin goes limp in Sasha’s grip, lets himself be pulled away, hanging his face. Eren thinks he might be crying, which makes him jerk forward before Mikasa places a hand on his chest to keep him in place.

“We should get out of here.” Sasha says nervously, looking around them.

“No, we should tell Sargent Shadis about this. We were acting in self defense.” Mikasa says simply and starts to tug Eren with her as they walk towards the building they know their instructor is occupying.

Eren lets himself be towed so he can crane his head around to look at Armin, check on him. Sasha sees him looking and smiles at him as she pushes Armin forward. He’s walking with his hands clenched and hair covering his face. Eren can see tears dripping off his chin though and he reaches a hand back for him, but isn’t close enough to touch him, to offer him comfort.

“Later, Eren.” Mikasa says.

Much later than Eren would have liked, they’re dismissed and allowed to go to their bunks. Armin is no longer crying and Mikasa doesn’t look like she’s been carved out of stone anymore but Eren feels wrung out and angry. The anger runs through him like fire catching in Shiganshina, like a cough turning into a fever that turns into an epidemic. It’s huge inside of him, pressing against his ribcage and crawling up his throat and down into his fingers, thrumming as if demanding he do something, do anything, to let it out.

It scares him as he fights it back, yanks and pulls and pushes it down inside of him. Containing whatever it is inside of him that rages and rages. He falls into his bed, curling around a pillow because he feels exhausted and jittery. He squeezes the pillow to his chest as if that’ll help lessen the aching in his ribs from his anger pressing against them so incessantly.

Mikasa’s fingers find their way into his hair as she sits down near his head, pulling her feet up under her. They feel good against his scalp. Armin crawls into bed with him, tucks himself right up against Eren’s back like he used to when they still had sleepovers, when they were alone in the refugee camp. He tucks his knees against Eren’s, wraps his arms around Eren’s waist, and presses his face into Eren’s back. Like this, Armin seems much smaller than Eren instead of the few spare inches Eren has on him. Mikasa flops on her side, keeping her hand in Eren’s hair, so she’s lying on her side over their heads.

Eren relaxes as the time passes, their touch calming his anger and making it shrink back to a reasonable size inside of him, no longer crushing him from the inside out.

“I don’t like guys.” Armin says softly into Eren’s back. Mikasa hums and Eren doesn’t say anything. “There’s nothing wrong with it, of course, but I don’t. It’s just….I don’t really like girls either. I don’t want to do any of those things that people say I should. I like holding hands, I like hugs, I like laying like this with you two, but I don’t want to kiss either of you or anyone else. I just don’t.” He continued.

Eren hummed, pulling the arm that Armin had around his waist more around him, curling their fingers together and pulling their hands to his chest. Eren didn’t think that was strange, didn’t think Armin was strange at all.

“I don’t mind that.” Mikasa says. Eren hums in agreement, but can’t find his voice just yet, his brain still going and spinning over itself, processing what Armin has said. “I like girls, I like boys, but I don’t find any of that stuff very important.” She continues. Her fingers haven’t stopped petting Eren’s hair.

“I don’t know.” Eren says, words finally coming to him as his brain stumbles to a stop and settles down. “I don’t want to do any of that stuff either, but I don’t think I’d mind it with the right person. But I also don’t want to look for them right now, I don’t want to find them.” He continues.

Armin squeezes his hand and he squeezes back. They fall asleep tangled together like that. Mikasa wakes up with a kink in her shoulder and neck, but she works them both out during their morning stretches. And since there’s no such thing as privacy in the bunks, when everyone came back from dinner, they all saw them like that.

Which is where the fun really began.

* * *

 

Mikasa is the first one to ever use the “knowledge” that the 104th has of them to make someone uncomfortable. Because of course she does.

Jean is talking with her about something, Eren isn’t paying attention to anything other than his food because he missed both breakfast and lunch today and he’s hungry. He threatened Sasha with his fork when her hand came too close to his plate, he was that hungry. So, he’s not paying attention until Mikasa says:

“Armin and Eren will keep me up, don’t worry about that.”

and Jean sputters and flees their table. Connie bursts out into wolf whistles while Armin buries his face in his hands. Eren, honestly, doesn’t get the joke for a few moments and when he gets it he rolls his eyes and continues his meal.

“I’m surprised neither one of you mind her talking about that so openly.” Annie deadpans. Armin groans from behind his hands while some of the other guys rib him. Eren swallows what’s in his mouth and decides to play along with Mikasa, because this does seem like fun.

“Armin will get back at her - she’s easy to rile up if we don’t let her do anything.” Eren says. And technically it’s not even a lie - Mikasa really does get agitated if Armin and Eren get to do something she doesn’t, she’s been that way since they were little. If they got to play tag with some kids, she had to play with them. If they were playing rescue the princess from the titan, she’d never stand for being the princess.

Silence meets his sentence though and Eren wonders if perhaps he’s implied to much. He’s about to crack a joke or take it back when Mina and Connie start in on the wolf whistles again while Jean complains that they better not make any noise during the night.

Armin sinks into his seat.

* * *

 

It becomes their own personal joke throughout training.

By the time they’re graduating, the entire 104th knows that the three of them are devoted to each other and treat their marriage like it’s a fact. They tease Eren and Mikasa about not being able to do anything without Armin’s approval, they tease Armin about how his wife and husband dote on him, and in return the three of them are constantly implying things about their nonexistent sex life.

It keeps spirits up, though, so they suppose it isn’t too bad.

Armin doesn’t really realize how much they really believed them until Eren is eaten in front of him. He had screamed and people had heard him. When he comes across more of the 104th, they look at him in sympathy and some of them hug him, tell him that Eren must have loved him a lot. It’s true, of course, but not in the way they mean it.

When he has to tell Mikasa that Eren is dead, people look away from them to give them the illusion of privacy. He doesn’t realize how kind that is until after. Mikasa doesn’t cry but then Armin didn’t expect her to, not on the outside.

When they split up, a mad plan hatched, Armin is certain that he will lose her too. He knows she’s low on gas, but he also knows that she won’t last in a world without Eren in it. To be honest, neither will he.

But unlike her, he can’t leave these people here helpless. He has a plan, he’s good at those, and he’ll die to make sure they live.

He wonders if he’ll see the ocean in the afterlife. If Mikasa and Eren will be there. He hopes so.

But then he doesn’t die. Mikasa doesn’t die. And, miraculously, Eren lives.

Armin folds his fingers together with Eren’s and knows his touch, his flesh, his bones. He cries.

_Eren is alive._

He turns into a titan, apparently, but if that means Eren gets to live then Armin doesn’t care. He knows Mikasa feels the same way, doesn’t even have to look at her to confirm it. The center of their world is alive and they can keep spinning around him.

So he stands in front of them, proudly.

 


End file.
